The Cardinals received positive reviews for their performance in free agency this spring, but if General Manager Steve Keim has his way, that won't be the case in future years.

If his vision is fulfilled, in a couple of years Keim will be getting ripped by fans and media for doing almost nothing in free agency. The Cardinals' unrestricted free agents will sign lucrative deals elsewhere, and they will be replaced by someone already on the roster.

As a result, the Cardinals will receive "compensatory" draft picks, which the NFL awards to teams that lose more unrestricted free agents than they sign.

If that happens, it will mean that Keim and the Cardinals are drafting the right players and coaches are developing them.

That has not been the Cardinals' history.

For too many years, they failed to re-sign their best players before the final year of their contracts. For too many years, they used free agency to try to sell tickets, signing older players, such as running back Emmitt Smith, who were past their prime and overpriced.

It also cost them draft picks.

Compensatory picks became part of the NFL lexicon 20 years ago. In that time, the Cardinals have been awarded 16 of them. Only eight teams have had fewer.

The Cardinals were awarded no compensatory picks this season, which wasn't a surprise given their activity in free agency a year ago. Upon taking the job in January 2013, Keim was forced to release players with expensive contracts, and many of them were replaced by unrestricted free agents under one-year contracts.

Cardinals first draft picks since 1954:

Take a look at the Cardinals' first draft picks in each season going back to 1954 (Round selected other than first in parentheses) 2015: D.J. Humphries, OT, Florida Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

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It's going to take a couple of solid drafts and wise free-agent decisions for the Cardinals to change a failed business model.

This year, they allowed linebacker Karlos Dansby to leave for Cleveland, but they signed left tackle Jared Veldheer, an unrestricted free agent, from the Raiders. Under the NFL's complicated, secret formula for dispensing compensatory picks, those transactions likely will cancel one another.

The Cardinals signed other unrestricted free agents, including receiver Ted Ginn Jr., and guard/center Ted Larsen, which could count against them when determining 2015 compensatory picks.

Compensatory picks can't be higher than the end of the third round and they can't be traded. But if it has compensatory picks, a team is more likely to trade its own picks. Good general managers know how to use that flexibility.

It's how the Ravens, under General Manager Ozzie Newsome, have thrived. Compensatory picks have helped Packers General Manager Ted Thompson build a consistent contender. The same goes for the Steelers — and the Patriots, who took Tom Brady with a compensatory sixth-round pick in 2000.

It's important to note that only unrestricted free agents, those with expiring contracts, figure into the compensatory formula. Players whose contracts have been terminated, or "street free agents," do not.

So the Packers' signing of defensive end Julius Peppers, released by the Bears, won't hurt Green Bay when compensatory picks are distributed in 2015. The Cardinals signing of cornerback Antonio Cromartie, released by the Jets, won't factor in the 2015 formula.

What Keim would like, eventually, are draft picks. Lots of them. More the better.

In the NFC West, he's competing with the 49ers, who have 11 picks, six in the first three rounds; and the Rams, who have 12, including three compensatory.

Keim and the Cardinals have a total of six, one in each of the first six rounds. They traded their seventh-round pick to Oakland last year as part of the deal for Carson Palmer.

It would be interesting to see what Keim would do with 10 or more picks. He's been in charge of only one draft, but last year he showed a willingness to make moves.

He traded down twice, adding an extra draft pick each time. Guard Earl Watford, taken with a second fourth-round pick, has a chance to start. Running back Andre Ellington, taken with the second sixth-round pick, was electrifying as a rookie.

Reach Somers at 602-444-8335 or kent.somers @arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @KentSomers. Somers also can be heard Mondays at 4 p.m. on The Drive on Fox Sports 910 (AM).